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Japan Times
LIFE / WEEK 3
Jan 18, 2009

Of orphans and granddaughters

When I was 10 years old, I found a book titled "Akage no An" ("Anne with Red Hair") in a library. It was a Japanese translation of "Anne of Green Gables" written by Canadian novelist Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942) in 1908.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2009

Regulations set up crisis

BALI — Claims that "unbridled capitalism" is behind the current credit crunch and financial turmoil are misleading and remarkably uninformed. This is usually accompanied by suggestions that "blind faith" in market self-regulation was a handmaiden in this mess. We are then told that the future must...
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 16, 2009

Shirakawa-go becomes a winter wonderland

Shirakawa-go — a village community in Gifu Prefecture that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its thatched-roof farmhouses in 1995 — has been a tourist magnet for years. But its beauty goes up a few notches for seven days each year, when many of the houses are lit up in the snow.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Jan 16, 2009

Shirakawa-go becomes a winter wonderland

Shirakawa-go — a village community in Gifu Prefecture that was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site for its thatched-roof farmhouses in 1995 — has been a tourist magnet for years. But its beauty goes up a few notches for seven days each year, when many of the houses are lit up in the snow.
COMMENTARY
Jan 15, 2009

China steps up global diplomacy

Almost two decades ago, China's paramount leader Deng Xiaoping issued a series of instructions regarding the orientation of Chinese foreign policy in which he emphasized the need for Beijing to keep a low profile and never take the lead. Up until a few years ago, China has for the most part maintained...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2009

Step up nonproliferation efforts

Every year, Japan submits a resolution on nuclear disarmament to the United Nations General Assembly. This year was no different; the 15th such resolution was submitted in October. As the only country in the world against which nuclear weapons have been used, Japan understands the horror and devastation...
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 13, 2009

Abuse of religious fervor paves way to doom

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — The terrorist assault in Mumbai targeted not only India's economy and sense of security, but also the India-Pakistan detente that has taken shape since 2004.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 13, 2009

Respect 'maiko' privacy, don't act like paparazzi, Kyoto tells tourists

KYOTO — It's a freezing December night but tourists are out in force in Kyoto's Gion district, on the hunt for one particular attraction.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Jan 13, 2009

Bloated bureaucracy exposed

A common joke among some foreigners here is that everything makes sense once you realize Japan is a communist country. However, the role of privileged ruling Communist Party (or, if you have a literary bent, the pigs in George Orwell's socialist parable "Animal Farm") is played not by the perpetual opposition...
Reader Mail
Jan 11, 2009

Respect for dual nationality

Some points of Jun Hongo's interesting Jan. 5 article, "A convenience in peace becomes matter of conflict in war," may demand clarification. While providing insights into the extremes of this issue, few potential applicants for dual nationality in Japan would imagine themselves facing conscription,...
Japan Times
LIFE
Jan 11, 2009

Asia University for Women: magic in the making

Perhaps it is only fitting in this time of dismal economic news that Bangladesh, a country known principally for natural disasters and human misery, provides an inspiring and uplifting story to relieve the gathering gloom.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2009

'Lads and Jockeys'

Life as a 14-year-old jockey apprentice at France's sole equestrian academy, Le Moulin N'Avon, starts off resembling a romantic period piece in "Lads and Jockeys," set as it is to the strains of jazz and lit like a moody Parisian bar. But as the camera zooms in on slender, barely pubescent boys lugging...
JAPAN
Jan 9, 2009

Somali kidnappers release Japan doctor, Dutch nurse

Somali kidnappers have freed a Japanese doctor and a Dutch nurse after holding them in captivity for more than three months, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.
EDITORIALS
Jan 8, 2009

Escalation of conflict

Following a massive air assault against Hamas in Gaza that began Dec. 27, Israel on Jan. 3 launched a ground invasion of the small strip of land inhabited by 1.5 million Palestinians. Casualties are sure to rise as the fighting moves into densely populated areas. Gaza medics have reported that some 660...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 6, 2009

Hibiya Park tent city for jobless closes down

Some 500 jobless people, many of them laid-off temp workers, who spent the New Year's period encamped in Hibiya Park were relocated Monday to four other sites arranged by the welfare ministry after volunteers closed the temporary shelter in the heart of Tokyo.
COMMENTARY
Jan 6, 2009

Prophet of world-culture clashes is dead

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A giant died early last week. His name was Samuel Huntington, a Harvard professor whose gigantism was intellectual. His ideas left huge footprints on our intellectual landscape, the way giant storms impact the Earth. Minds were shaken, sometimes stirred, and never left untouched....
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jan 1, 2009

Volunteers offer jobless temps free food, advice

Temp workers who have lost their jobs amid the global financial crisis lined up Wednesday for free food and consultations with volunteers at Tokyo's Hibiya Park.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 30, 2008

Making nice in Asia during a global slump

SINGAPORE — Global financial dislocation and the economic slump are putting Asian regional cooperation to the test. They also appear to be shaping somewhat different responses in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. The latter, which formed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations way back in 1967,...
COMMENTARY
Dec 30, 2008

No sign of a 'peace agreement'

More than six months have passed since the presidential election in Taiwan. After a hiatus of eight years, the Kuomintang is in power. This actually represents the restoration of the mainland-lineage forces for the first time in 20 years — if you count the Lee Teng-hui era as rule by non-mainland-lineage...
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Dec 30, 2008

What are your New Year's resolutions for 2009?

Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE ZEIT GIST
Dec 30, 2008

Foreign university faculty face annual round of 'musical jobs'

Universities in Japan force most of their foreign instructors to play an unnerving version of musical chairs. Every year the music starts and instructors with expiring contracts scramble for an opening at a new school. University administrators force teachers to play "musical jobs" by offering limited-term...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / CORPORATE COMMUNICATION SYMPOSIUM
Dec 30, 2008

Communication key to good corporate management

Communication with the public and employees is of strategic importance to corporate management today as companies' operations become more global, and people pay more attention to the social responsibilities of businesses, said participants at a recent symposium in Tokyo.
EDITORIALS
Dec 29, 2008

An oddly familiar year

Historians like to say that "history doesn't repeat itself, it rhymes." That would explain the feeling of familiarity that many experienced throughout 2008. While there was one truly unprecedented event — the election of Mr. Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States — there was also...
Reader Mail
Dec 28, 2008

Apartment hunt shows the score

I am an American who has lived in Japan for the past eight years — five years in Osaka and three years in Tokyo. For the most part it has been a positive experience, but recent events have shown me Japan's underlying legalized racism toward foreigners living in Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2008

Nakasone talks up '08 global achievements

Offering a positive assessment of Japan's diplomatic achievements in 2008, Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone on Friday praised Prime Minister Taro Aso for working tirelessly to raise Tokyo's reputation within the international community.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / JAPAN LITE
Dec 27, 2008

Who said no man is an island?

I saw 81-year-old Man-chan, along with the plumber, putting up Christmas decorations in the park next to the ferry port. This is the third year Man-chan has headed up this Christmas illumination project with the help of the plumber who puts up the Christmas lights. Each year the display expands — an...

Longform

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